by Mario GranataThere has been a lot of speculation circling around the 716 as to the 50th selection for the Buffalo Bills. Now, there have been many dealings during free agency for the Bills, which was essentially their “Draft” but what will they do to continue the momentum? Will they address some needs on the offensive line? Will they add some athletes to the secondary? Check out what the pick at #50 means to the Bills, both long and short term.

Now, there were some shakeups when free agency hit as the Seattle Seahawks gave their first round selection to the New Orleans Saints, and more than likely the Saints will use the 31st pick on a quarterback. It allows New Orleans to have a 5th year option, which comes in handy on a quarterback with an aging Drew Brees at the helm. 2015 NFL Draft: Picks 1-102015 NFL Draft: Picks 11-20

Depending on how the first 10 picks play out, here are some possible areas of need for some other teams. Keep in the back of your head what the Eagles do with the 20th pick. They might try to swing Bradford to Cleveland and pick up the 19th pick and then bundle the 19th and 20th to Tennessee for the #2 overall pick to snag Mariota. It would come as no shock to the Hashtag Crew, as it should to any of you if Chip Kelly swings for the fence on that one. 2015 NFL Draft: Picks 1-102015 NFL Draft: Picks 21-32

Now, by this time of the year, you have probably had your fill of all the Mock Drafts that you can handle.So, Hashtag Sports would like to give you a little treat.If you have listened to and of the live shows, this might be a bit of déjà vu for some of you, as it was for us.Instead of giving you the latest Mock Draft 1.0, 2.0 or whatever point 0 that is out there, we would like to have this as a time of reflection.Check out who the Hashtag Crew called out in their 32 Teams in 32 Days, and see how it will play out, starting with the Top-10 Picks.2015 NFL Draft: Picks 11-202015 NFL Draft: Picks 21-32

As Peyton Manning’s career continues to wind down, all eyes are beyond the present and are focused on the future. The NFL draft is only a few days away. Will the Broncos look to draft the future now, next year, or is the future the former 2nd round selection Brock Osweiler? Talk in Denver suggests that they will look hard at quarterback options in this year’s draft, suggesting that Osweiler may be available.

To sum up Osweiler briefly, the former Arizona State Sun Devil stands 6’8” according to NFL.com, weighs in at 240 pounds and is only 24 years old. He is also entering the final year of his contract. Denver would be wise to know exactly what his value is by listening to trade offers they will surely receive on draft day. He puts the team in a compromising position since they need to judge if he is the future of the franchise based on his 3 previous off seasons and his 30 professional pass attempts. If he is the future, he would most likely command a contract close to what Mark Sanchez recently signed for as a starting block; 3 years with a total value of about $9 million (Sanchez received $5.5 million in guaranteed money which would not be the same for Osweiler, who would be offered much less). Not a bad payday for Osweiler and his career 159 passing yards.

Coming into the NFL, Osweiler appeared to have the types of intangibles that make a quarterback a 2nd round selection. He has a very compact release, showed both velocity and the ability to throw touch passes and has NFL-caliber arm strength. Most executives saw him as a player who would be in need of time to develop, as he was seen as a bit careless taking chances and depending on his natural ability. He has the type of make-up that makes front office staff drool, which is precisely the problem. With entering his contract year, the organization has invested 3 seasons into grooming him and they will look to get that in return. When teams start making offers, it won’t be comparable to the 57th selection with which he was taken in 2012. We highlighted their plight in our “32 teams in 32 days” article here posted 3/5/2015.

A major concern coming out of college was his mechanics, not unusual for a college quarterback. Osweiler, even though he is 6’8” doesn’t play as tall. His throwing motion has gone through a bit of a change. Even though his release is quick, his arm angle and shot-put type motion meant that balls came out of the pocket with a low trajectory and run the risk of being batted down. Taking a look at where his game has come, you can see that, even in these highlights, the velocity is what you would expect and his motion appears to be improving. These throws are both lasers and split coverage pretty well.

The return that Denver should be looking for is at best a 4th round selection. Since he is only controllable this season and would then enter free agency, a low 4th round selection would really be maximum value on the open market. If he does hit free agency, he would be a sought after commodity. He hasn’t proven that he could be an NFL quarterback, but he hasn’t proven yet that he isn’t. One concern that you will hear float around is that the 2014 season was the first in which he was actually expected to have full grasp of the offensive playbook and he struggled with that. Osweiler is a very intelligent player but this is Peyton Manning’s offense. He should be able to, at this point, pick up any system.

So why does he make sense for the Buffalo Bills? If you are looking at taking a developmental QB in the 5th round, why not take one that has all the skills you won’t find that late and simply take a chance. Trading for Osweiler and then signing him to an extension at average starting quarterback money would be more affordable than holding on to Matt Cassel for another season and would certainly not come close to the 5thyear option on EJ Manuel. You stay young at the position and get a player who was in the same room with one of the most cerebral players who ever played quarterback in Manning. The Bills selecting a quarterback in this draft would be a surprise to no one. With that, Osweiler is available if the Bills want him and if all it costs you is your 5thround selection, what harm could it really do?

When reported last month that tight end Jermaine Gresham was in the need of back surgery to repair a hernia, teams who were interested in the free agent immediately fell off the radar. This couldn’t have worked out any better for the Buffalo Bills.

Gresham has had a productive, yet unspectacular career in Cincinnati. He stands 6’5”, weighs in at 260 pounds and comes from a heralded Oklahoma program. All signs pointed to Gresham being an immediate impact player when he was selected 21st overall in 2009. Some concerns over his surgically repair knee following an injury in his senior season might have been a reason he slipped to 21st, but many draft experts criticized the Bengals for taking a player with that injury so high. For starters, Gresham is ranked as an average run blocker but an above-average pass blocker (to be fair, most TEs in the league are not called on to pass block in today’s NFL, so the sample size is quite small). He is, however, a down-the-seam threat that teams will need to account for. Combine him with Charles Clay, who could be used out wide as a receiver or even split in the backfield, and Gresham playing on the line would isolate match-ups that would only benefit the Bills offense. The Bills would be smart to call and Gresham would be smart to listen. The Bills can offer him something other teams cannot; the ability to start (we all know Greg Roman likes to run two TE sets) while not being the primary target. While that may not sound like a proposition he would find appealing, this season's production would be compromised by his injury anyway, this would just allow for a justification of his statistics for 2015.

From a production standpoint, Gresham’s has never topped 6 receiving touchdowns. The most yardage receiving is 737, which is significantly higher than the 496 average yards receiving per year in his 4 other professional seasons. In 2014 he was second in the NFL in catch rate at 78% which was only behind New England’s Tim Wright (stat has a minimum of 25 passes). Of course, Gresham caught more than double the passes of Wright. While you may look at that and think that Gresham had a Pro Bowl year, he added 3 fumbles and 7.4 yards per reception, the lowest of his career. He was used mainly as a safety valve for Andy Dalton last season and it shows with a monstrous dip in production. His long reception was 23 yards. If you are looking for a red-zone threat that fights for the ball, then you might want to look somewhere else.

Now you may ask why the Bills would in interested in signing a player coming off a back surgery with previous knee injuries and following the worst year of his career after signing Charles Clay this offseason? To put it simply, he needs to re-establish his value while making the most he can on the free agent market. The problem does not lie in his physical skills. While recovering from surgery, he is missing vital offseason preparation time which is used to learn the playbook. He is a man without a home and his value is depreciating by the day. He and his agent are fully aware that he will need to prove that he is healthy and the only chance he had at a longer term contract was lost after day 3 of free agency. Teams will wait for the draft and then gauge interest.

He will sit and wait for a one or two year contact which shouldn’t exceed $2 million in base value. No team will swoop in an offer him more. Until he can prove he is ready for 16 games, teams would be smart to keep it short, sweet and cheap with Gresham. This could work in the Bills favor.

Leave a comment on this picture with which hurts more? Where were you when it happened? We have also included a picture that may make some Sabres fans insane with anger...or laugh. Honestly, the Hashtag Crew is split on this one.

By Paul Wanecski As the NFL draft approaches, more and more people are discussing Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. It is almost a foregone conclusion that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be selecting FSU’s Jamies Winston with the first overall selection, so I suppose it is natural to look to where the next best quarterback will fall. Here we will go through a variety of situations and circumstances that could lead to the former duck landing in a new pond.

By Paul Wanecski Anthony “Boobie” Dixon was signed at the start of the 2014 offseason to be a physical inside presence and contribute on special teams. 16 games later, we have a new head coach and Dixon has been reunited with the offensive coordinator he left in San Fransico. So what will happen with Boobie this year?

By Paul Wanecski Honoring the 5th year anniversary of the Buffalo Bills shocking the entire Western New York area selecting Clemson running back CJ Spiller 9th overall, we decided to try and start a debate. The Facebook groups for Buffalo Bills Fans Only and Bills Fanatics absolutely exploded with chatter when asked to describe CJ Spiller’s career with the Bills in one word. So, to explore both sides of the argument, let’s talk.